Kathy Cothran

Hundred's Day is so much fun in the early grades, but it can also be fun when you add the older children into the celebration.

One focus in this activity is comparing how one hundred can be big in size, or one hundred can be small in size. For instance, one hundred could fit in the palm of a hand if you were holding about one hundred staples or one hundred grains of rice. A hundred can be huge if you are looking at one hundred cars in the parking lot or a pile of a hundred coats.

How stinky do you think one hundred shoes might be?

Could you read one hundred books? Even that could be compared. 100 textbooks versus 100 paperback picture books. Those stacks would be an interesting comparison!

Upper elementary aged students have a spectacular time creating a movie to be shown to the younger students in honor of Hundred's Day.

Digital still pictures are required, yet many students wanted to use the video camera and add the commentary with their comparisons. Both are nice!

In addition, when doing this with a class, the younger grades had made collections of one hundred objects in many different ways and upper elementary students photographed these projects and quickly dropped them into the end of the movie for added excitement from the younger children. One class had to wear their collections on their T-shirts so those photos were great with the smiling youngsters. Other classes had to put them on a poster board, so those photos were easier to take before the day of celebration.

The upper elementary classes that made these movies can join in the celebrations and have a spectacular time while also learning comparative mathematical skills along with photography, digital movie making, and cooperative teamwork skills.

Find the reproducibles for using this activity tomorrow in the download section!